webern and luigi nono - the genesis of a new compositional morphology and syntax

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Webern and Luigi Nono: The Genesis of a New Compositional Morphology and Syntax Author(s): Gundaris Poné Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1972), pp. 111-119Published by: Perspectives of New MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/832336Accessed: 23-10-2015 22:46 UTC

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WEBERN AND LUIGI NONO

The Genesis of a New Compositional Morphology and Syntax

GUNDARIS PONE

IN THE two series of lectures which Webern delivered in Vienna in 1932 and 1933-published in 1960 under the title Der Weg zur neuen Musik-the composer repeatedly returns to a discussion of music as related to speech. The observation of certain procedural analogies between music and speech has been made perennially by musical writers of varying powers of perception and sophistication. Still, it continues to remain an important area of reflection, particularly at historical junctures when compositional morphology and syntax undergo critical changes. In the above-mentioned lectures, Webern sides with the view that music and speech share certain general principles of procedural logic. Their natures differ, however, in specifics-especially in the matter of a semantic base which speech possesses but music lacks. While individual words in speech are endowed with concrete meaning, usually clear and univalent without the need for contextual clarification, their musical counter- parts acquire a "meaning" only in context. Ligeti has observed that musical moments have a meaning only in reference to other musical moments; not the meanings themselves but only their contextual function and change of appearance can be grasped.1 It is specifically in this larger syntactic context that Webern advo- cates an analogous logic of procedure as relevant between speech and musical composition. The analogy is contained in Webern's frequently used key-concepts of Beziehung, Fasslichkeit, and Zusammenhang.

To Webern, a man highly conscious of the past, historical developments in both art and nature follow a parallel course of continu- ous and inevitable metamorphosis. One of his principal referential authorities regarding this view is Goethe, especially the latter's trea- tise, Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erkliren, which

1Gyorgy Ligeti, "Form in der neuen Musik," Darmstidter Beitraige, X (1966), 26.

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propagates the single-source theory of evolution of all forms-a theory profoundly influencing Webern's syntactic procedures. A striking and in many ways visionary observation suggesting the ultimate fusion of the dialectics of art and nature occurs in the last of the 1932 lectures: "The farther we proceed, the more everything becomes identical and finally we have the impression of not being confronted by a work of man but by nature."2

The cornerstone of Webern's compositional syntax is the motive, which the composer defines as "the smallest part of a musical thought that functions independently." Although short motives are typical stylistic elements in Webern's works of all periods, the characteristic microstructures consisting of four notes or less be- come particularly dominant with Symphony, Opus 21. It is important to observe that, whereas Webern's motives prior to Opus 21, despite all brevity, still retain the expressive characteristics of concentrated thematic gestures (evident as late as String Trio, Opus 20), in subsequent works the functional focus of a motive changes from a subjective poetic role to one of objective structural potential. The ultimate synthesis of the dialectics of poetics and structure, a matter of great importance to Webern as well as to composers who followed in his footsteps, is achieved in the three cantatas, Opera 26, 29, and 31.

It is by now well established that Weber's interval resources are of a highly selective and exclusive character, so exclusive as to appear almost meager. An interval analysis of Webern's tone rows will readily reveal a preponderance of minor seconds and major and minor thirds. Although his tone rows do contain other intervals, Webern unmistakably tends to suppress them either through seg- mentation occurring at those points in the row where such intervals are placed (Concerto, Opus 24), or else by absorbing them in the collective sound of a vertical aggregate (Cantata, Opus 31). In a motivic context, Webern's preferred intervals are thirds, sixths, major sevenths, and minor ninths. What are the reasons for such restrictive selectivity?

There are two main reasons. First, Webern obviously liked both the individual as well as the combined sound of his preferred intervals. Second, his concentration on selected intervals must be viewed in relation to the historical development of serial composition.

2Anton Webern, Der Weg zur neuen Musik, ed. Willi Reich (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1960), p. 60. All quotations are in the author's translation.

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Schoenberg originally regarded the tone row as a thematic manne- quin, having been primarily attracted to its potential as an Urquelle of melodic genesis. That Webern discovered and concentrated on the constructive functions of the row becomes obvious upon ob- serving the preponderance of rows exhibiting more or less elaborate isomorphic traits. Among these, for example, one finds retrograde- like rows (Opus 21), retrograde-inversion-like rows (Opera 28, 29, and 30), and-to use a term of Luigi Nono-quattro in uno rows, i. e.,rows composed of four 3-note microforms, each being a mirror form of the other three (Opera 24 and 32). Such attention to the inner construction of a row limits intervallic inclusiveness, although it should be remembered that there are also all-interval rows con- taining complex inner symmetries.3 Weber, however, made no use of these latter rows, remaining quite content in the "little corner" of his preferred intervals. It is possible that he knew about the existence of the all-interval series from Berg who used such a row in the Lyric Suite.

Restrictive and selective measures are also apparent in Webern's morphology of time. The cornerstone of Webern's rhythmic resources remains the binary division of a basic time value, expressed by the exponential ratio pattern 1:2:4:8 ......, in other words the so-called "time-octave" and its multiples. The next rhythmic formant-the "time-fifth," 2:3-tends to perform a subordinate and primarily ornamental function. This tendency becomes more pronounced in the late works where, for example, there are no triplets in Opera 28, 29, and 30. The one notable exception is the appearance of the "time-fifth" as a structurally integrated function of musical time in the first movement of Concerto, Opus 24.

It is relevant to note that, while utterly avoiding the pitch-octave as a harmonic and melodic interval, Webern felt no such compunc- tion about the time-octave. This observation allows the inference in Webern's compositional dialectic that pitch and time are regarded as parameters belonging to distinctly separate categories, the primary functions of which are non-interchangeable. Musical theory and practice departed sharply from this view in the 1950's, particularly as evidenced by the theoretical premises of Stockhausen's article, "... wie die Zeit vergeht... ."4

3For a systematic classification and discussion of these rows see Herbert Eimert, Grundlagen der musikalischen Reihentechnik (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1964), pp. 36-71.

4Karlheinz Stockhausen, ".. wie die Zeit vergeht . ..," Die Reihe, III (1957).

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Webern's compositional syntax reflects his attraction to the concept of monogenesis as a fundamental universal law underlying various manifestations in nature. This concept, one of the key tenets of German Romanticism, came to Webern primarily from two sources: the natural philosophy of Goethe and the aesthetic views of his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, especially the latter's Grundgestalt theory.5 To derive everything from a single idea, to retain the essence of the idea and to change only its forms of appearance, to create a context by deploying these forms of appearance in time and space-these are the procedural problems with which Webern's compositional syntax is concerned.

The methods which Webern employs to generate new forms of appearance of his basic idea, the motivic cell, are well known in traditional composition: inversion, retrogression, augmentation, diminution, subtraction, addition, and various combinations there- of. However, the contextual disposition of motives varied by these methods reveals a wholly new orientation. Boulez was among the first to have observed that structural interchangeability of horizontal and vertical pitch functions appears as an integral stylistic trait in Webern's later works. In Concerto, Opus 24, for example, the very structure of the series (the quattro in uno type) implies a mobile potential, as has been pointed out by Pousseur, Stock- hausen, and others. Still, the above dialectic continues to suggest a confinement to a two-dimensional matrix. To clarify Webem's new syntactic orientation the following observation is requisite: whereas there is a general consensus that pitch levels represent the vertical and durations the horizontal coordinate, it is seldom realized that dynamics, articulation, and timbre are important factors in suggesting the depth of field.

In bringing this new dimension to the fore, Weber took two important steps. First, he de-emphasized the linear force of the two primary parameters, pitch and duration, by isolating the motive from a linear context. This explains the illusion of the "spacial" functioning of Webern's motives and their seemingly elliptical relationship within larger syntactic units. Second, Webern accentu- ated the new dimension of depth by assigning structural functions

5There is little doubt that under Schoenberg's influence, Weber shared his teacher's enthusiasm for the mystic ideas of the Swedish scientist and philosopher, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Swedenborg believed in a universal analogy between the natural and spiritual worlds and held that specific manifestations of reciprocity exist between the two spheres.

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to the spacial parameters which formerly had been relegated entirely to the role of emphasizing thematic gestures. Thus, Webem became the first composer in whose works timbral and dynamic symmetries, mirrors, and canons appear as consciously applied structural determinants.

In light of the foregoing discussion, a persistent misinterpreta- tion of the function of the so-called Klangfarbenmelodie technique should be corrected. Contrary to firmly entrenched beliefs, Klang- farbenmelodie is not a kaleidoscopic embroidery of linear functions, that is, melody; rather it is an important compositional meth- od of revealing a sonorous depth of field. There is no better proof of this than an aural comparison between a conventional version of Bach's Ricercare and Webern's orchestration of it.

Did Webern anticipate the future potential of his work? He was far too modest to claim the role of a prophet and far too honest to pretend to be certain about the future. Still, without concrete pre- dictions, his intuition probes the future. In the text of the last lecture of 1932, Weber confronts the future thus: "At this point I can only stutter. Everything is still in a state of flux ... It will be up to a later time to discover the more specific laws of relationship ..." (". . . die engeren gesetzlichen Zusammenhange. . .).6 The discovery of those "laws" began within five years of Webern's death.

The observation that Webern reduced his musical typology to the single tone and silence as basic structural units may be a tempt- ing one, but it cannot be accepted without certain reservations and qualifications. The concept of the single tone as the positive and silence as the negative basic structural components and exclusive normative factors arises much later and is developed by the post- Webern generation of composers. Although Webern's works exhibit an unmistakable tendency of reduction toward the single tone and beyond it, the interval continues to remain the basic structural element. Weber's technique of motivic fragmentation produces many instances of isolated single tones, but this also happens frequently in the developments and retransitions of other composers, notably Beethoven, and for the same reason.

After a period of apprenticeship and orientation with Maderna and Scherchen, Luigi Nono, like his colleagues Stockhausen and

6Webern, Der Weg, p. 60.

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Boulez, took the final quick step, the direction of which is implicit in Webem's late works but which the master himself was hesitant to take, namely: the step of returning to the single tone in its four primary dimensions of pitch, duration, dynamics, and timbre as the basic material and starting point for the genesis of a new musical language. An examination of the scores of Incontri, II Canto Sos- peso, Varianti, La Terra e la Compagna, Cori di Didone, and Com- posizione per Orchestra No. 2, "Diario Polacco" (all written between 1955-1959), reveals an almost constant isolation of the single tone from any apparent linear context. Whereas earlier works such as Polifonica-Monodia-Ritmica (1951) display clear evidence of a motivic structure based on the recurrence and transformation of rhythmic and intervallic cells a la Webern, the above-mentioned works show no external resemblance to inherited musical typology. Nono's compositional language appears totally emancipated from any linguistic models and semantic pretenses, perhaps most dra- matically demonstrated by the phonetic filtration of the text in certain sections of II Canto Sospeso (notably No. 2 and No. 9) as well as in other choral works.

The visual impression of these compositions is one of extreme pointillism, yet in performance the effect is that of strikingly linear integration. The answer to this dichotomous relationship between the visual and the auditory lies in Nono's methods of compositional pre-formation which, despite all appearances of the final score, often involve only a small number of so-called rhythmic streams whose basic duration values stand in different proportional relation- ships to each other. Thus, in No. 2 of II Canto Sospeso, there are

3 5

only four such streams with A, J, A , and J as basic duration values. Their proportional relationship, therefore, can be expressed as 1/2: 1/3: 1/4: 1/5. When the constituent elements of these streams are removed from their linear matrix and distributed in a structural field, each receiving its own registral, dynamic, and timbral defini- tion, their original schematic context, indeed, is no longer apparent. But then, as will soon be seen, the discrete perception of the individual component, the single tone, is usually a completely irrelevant matter to Nono; what matters is its role as a statistical factor in the articulation of various dimensions of complex structures.

Nono constantly develops new techniques of pre-forming basic material to suit his compositional intentions. His methods of pre-

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formation never conform to a mechanical deus ex machina, as any analysis which limits itself only to a short fragment of a major work may unwittingly suggest, even to an earnest reader. The rhythmic streams discussed above in reality represent only a transposed concept of the former polyphonic "line" or "voice," and they can be shaped to serve many compositional requirements. The degree of rhythmic complexity can be determined according to the ratios among the basic duration values selected for each stream. Thus, the selection of basic values related as 2:3 will generate a more simple rhythmic context than 3:4:5, which in turn is less complex than 3:4:5:7. In the orchestral introduction of II Canto Sospeso individual structural fields are rhythmically articulated according to this principle.

In the same work Nono occasionally resorts to the so-called Fibonacci numbers (1,2, 3,5, 8, 13, etc.) as a series of factors with which the basic duration values are multiplied to obtain actual durations. Mathematical fetishism lies far from Nono's compositional thought, and the hidden mysteries of a number series selected for this purpose are quite irrelevant. What matters is that the multiplication of basic values by higher numbers results in longer durations, while multiplication by smaller numbers yields shorter durations. This allows Nono statistical control over actual durations and the degree of horizontal density as a concomitant.

In the process of pre-forming basic streams, silence can be introduced as an equal, but negative, component along with sound as a positive factor. Nono uses this technique in his Varianti as well as in other works. The openings of silence obtained in this way appear like "windows" in a sonorous facade, and their strategic disposition can serve among other purposes as an effective means toward per- meability of complex structures. These articulations-by-silence allow the temporary penetration of selected details into the fore- ground by suppressing their larger context into the shadows.

Furthermore, the basic stream can assume an aspect of two- dimensionality by becoming the carrier of variable horizontal den- sities. In such a case, the basic stream performs the function of a "super-determinant" over its own subordinate streams or layers which are subject to processes of composition and de-composition and provide inner articulation for complex masses of sound. The basic stream even aspires to three-dimensionality by becoming a directionally fixed source of sound with contextual reference to

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other fixed sound sources. This is precisely what happens in Nono's Composizione per Orchestra No. 2, "Diario Polacco. " By adjusting to Nono's expanded concept of the polyphonic "line," the ex- tremely complex score reverts both visually and aurally to only four basic strands, each represented by one of the four orchestras involved.

Already in Incontri (1955) Nono used a mirror device for which Berg's Allegro Misterioso from the Lyric Suite and Schoenberg's No. 18 from Pierrot Lunaire are well-known previous models: namely, at mid-point everything is mirrored backward. In Com- posizione per Orchestra No. 2, new and far more interesting principles of structural symmetry are introduced. A vertical intersection of the four strands at any point reveals their statistical equivalence as to density, timbre, dynamics, and register. This would appear to suggest a "canon" involving the above-mentioned parameters: a canon in "unison" at time-interval zero. Considering that the loca- tions of the four orchestras are spacially symmetrical and that the sound structures emanating from them are at all times similar to each other, as well as symmetrically equidistant from a central axis, the reduction of the four basic strands goes further and returns to a single idea. Here one confronts what Weber referred to as "al- ways the same only under different forms of appearance." Nono achieves different forms of appearance by mirroring his basic idea in multidimensional space.

Whereas Webern's tone rows serve the purpose of motivic genesis, Nono, by electing the single tone as his basic compositional element, renounces all motivic gestures per se. The tone row becomes a mere regulator to assure a desired statistical pattern of pitch dis- tribution. With increasing vertical density, interval function is sus- pended and the order in which pitches appear becomes relatively unimportant. As Ligeti has observed, pitch, which was the first parameter to assume a serially fixed function, is now the first to retreat into the twilight of non-identity.7 Nono's works exemplify the gradual degeneration of the original purpose of the tone row. His earlier compositions are still based on rows consisting of hete- rogeneous interval sequences, such as the Variazioni Canoniche (1950) in which the tone row of Schoenberg's Opus 41 is used. However, beginning with II Canto Sospeso (1956), row physiog-

7Gyorgy Ligeti, "Wandlungen der musikalischen Form," Die Reihe, VII (1960), 5ff.

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nomy develops more and more homogeneous traits. Both II Canto Sospeso and Varianti are based on a row which, although tech- nically an all-interval series, consists in reality only of two inter- polated and diverging halves of the chromatic scale. It remains only to return to the chromatic scale itself, a step which occurs in Nono's Cori di Didone and the above-discussed Composizione per Orchestra No. 2.8

Syntax is a system which imposes certain conventionally accepted patterns of order upon constituent elements thereby trans- lating semantic meaning into contextual meaning. Insofar as musical typology can assume a pseudo-semantic role, perhaps best ex- emplified by the so-called "affect formulas" in the eighteenth cen- tury, it is possible to discern a certain degree of analogy between the syntactic procedures of speech and music.9 However, the reduction of musical typology to the non-referential level of the single tone and its absorption into a statistically conceived mass of sound eliminates that possibility. There is no longer any logically defen- sible reason for the contextually fixed position of a constituent. What remains is the coexistence-by-accident of particulars: musical moments, structural fields, groups, or whatever they be designated. The suspension of the organic relationship between the universal and the particular appears an inevitable step in the historical process of the gradual dismantling of inherited hierarchical systems.

One might return to the prophetic words of Webern quoted at the beginning of this discussion: "The farther we proceed, the more everything becomes identical and finally we have the impression of not being confronted by a work of man but by nature." Was it Webern's dream to penetrate the mysteries of nature? If so, there are moments in the work of Luigi Nono when this dream becomes a reality.

8As a matter of speculation, it may be noted that Webern's sketches for Opus 32 indicate a row which also consists entirely of symmetrically arranged fragments of the chromatic scale. See James Beale, "Webern's musikalischer Nachlass," Melos (October 1964), p. 297.

9Gundaris Pone, "Jaunas Muzikas Forma un Doma," Jauna Gaita, No. 62 (1967), p. 10.

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webern and luigi nono - the genesis of a new compositional morphology and syntax

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